Emergency
by InkStainedGhost
Summary: Cancer is a horrible, deadly illness. And one pink hedgehog knows that better than anyone.


**Before you read this, I must say that I'm not the expert with cancer so I'm sorry for any inaccuracies.**  
**Secondly I chose to write this because my grandad and my uncle have died from cancer, one from heart, one from lung cancer, so this is a little personal for me.**

**I have my sympathies to anyone fighting, or knows someone who is fighting cancer. **  
**Also, this story shows that there is hope, even in the darkest of places, so never loose it, no matter what.**

**Okay so without further ado, you may read!**

**Emergency**

I hate them, I hate them all.

They don't understand, no-one does! How can they possibly know how I feel?!

I hate being like this, I never chose to be this way, not like anyone would have the madness to chose to be the way I am.

What am I talking about I hear you ask?

Cancer...

That's I'm talking about, about a year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, rare for mobians anyway.

At first, I kept it a secret, the doctors had caught it reasonably early, it seemed to be treatable. I'd get treated before any of them even knew I had something wrong with me.

And everything would be fine.

_Everything would be fine._

But I was wrong, and the cancer fought back. Over a few months it got worse, making its way around my body. I became weaker, so much weaker. I couldn't even lift my hammer anymore. But I smiled none the less, kept on fighting, went on as if nothing was wrong with me, despite the questions and protests of my friends.

* * *

"_What's going on Amy? Why are you keeping secrets? Why won't you tell me what's wrong?!"_

"_I'm fine, really I'm okay"_

"_No you're not, you and I both know that, why can't you be honest with me?!" _

"_Because there's nothing to be honest about!"_

"_Ames... please, I want to help"_

"_Well I don't need it!"_

"_Amy..."_

* * *

Even though my cancer weakened me, tortured me, I wanted to prove that I was stronger than it, that I could take whatever got thrown at me, that I didn't need their help, that, for once, I could battle something myself.

But that all changed on the night of the 18th, July 2000.

* * *

_It was a warm summers evening, the slight breeze whistled through the trees. It was perfect weather for a summer party. Well of sorts... Of course, it was Rouge, who was very familiar to these kind of topics, who arranged it. So, that evening, the majority of the team met at Rouge's house and enjoyed the warm summers air. Throughout the evening, there was laughter, joy and of course food, and for that time, Amy was alright, for a fragment of a moment she wasn't thinking about her cancer, just about now, her friends and the laughter that was being shared between them._

"_Knuckles, you can be such an idiot sometimes" Rouge said as she sat down beside him, he, who had previously made an idiotic comment about one of Eggmans attack on Angel Island, looked up at her and frowned_

"_Well it wasn't my fault! He tricked me!" Knuckles replied in protest_

"_Oh yeah, like that's not the first time" Rouge said, which only made Knuckles reply in a irritated sigh_

"_She has a point, you are a real knuckle-head sometimes, make that most of the time" Sonic said, trying to push Knuckles over the edge of irritation, making Amy, Cream and Tails burst into giggles, unfortunately for Amy, she was drinking some coke, and due to her laughter, she spilled it down her._

"_Amy, come on now!" Rouge said all while laughing_

"_Hey, it's his fault for making me laugh!" Amy said as she pointed at Sonic, who looked at her, slightly startled yet also smiling. _

"_I'll go clean up" Amy said as she got up to use the bathroom._

_Once Amy was in there, she used a wet cloth of clean up the coke from her clothing and then used it to clean her face. As she looked down to put the cloth away, she saw a few drops of blood fall onto the sink, immediately, Amy looked up and saw her nose dripping with blood, and it was still flowing. Quickly, Amy covered her nose with her hand and fumbled for a towel_

"_no,no,no,no,no,no, not now, please not now!" she cried as she searched desperately for a towel, her hand was now soaked in blood. Finally she had found a towel and covered her nose with it. But the blood was still flowing. Amy did have these in the past, when her immune system had not been able to cope, due to amount of treatment and the ever-growing cancer, her nose would bleed badly, but never this badly. She looked at her blood soaked hand and tried to wash the blood away, but as the blood continued to flow, the floor became painted red._

_Finally, Amy's body couldn't physically support her, and she fell to the ground. Knowing the bleeding won't stop, Amy knew she had to get up and go home to use her aid kit she had. But try as she must, her body couldn't physically lift her off the ground._

"_Amy? Amy are you okay, you've been in there for a while?" the muffled voice of Cream was heard from the other side of the door_

"_I'm fine" Amy called, her voice sounded strained and rusty, as if she had been coughing for ages_

"_Are you sure, you don't sound well?" Cream called back_

"_I'm okay, really!" Amy called back, she had got a hold of the basin and got up, only to fall back down with a thud._

"_Amy! What's going on?!" Cream shouted as she heard her fall "I'm coming in!"_

"_No, don't!" Amy cried, but it was no use, Cream had opened the door and laid sight on a blood covered Amy. The floor, the towel and Amy's nose, hands and dress were almost soaked in blood. Cream eyes widened in fear, her eyes scanning the scene, it looked like a bloody murder._

"_Ice" Amy said weakly "I need ice and quick" _

_Cream could only stare at Amy as she backed slowly out_

"_SONIC!" she called "Help!"_

"_No, don't call him!" Amy hissed, but it was too late, the short, quick steps of the blue blur was heard running up the stairs to the bathroom_

"_I'll go get some ice" Cream said quickly as she ran downstairs, leaving Sonic to desperately help Amy._

"_What the hell happened!?" Sonic exclaimed as he rushed over to Amy_

"_Just a nose bleed" Amy whispered_

"_Just a nose bleed?! Amy blood is pumping out of your nose, we need to get you to a hospital!" Sonic answered, he then picked Amy up into his arms and proceeded to leave for the hospital._

"_Help, she's bleeding badly!" Sonic shouted as he arrived at the hospital, a weak and tired Amy in his arms. Immediately one of the doctors ran over, Amy was one of his patients so he wasted no time to help her. _

"_Over here, place her on the bed" he said sternly as he motioned Sonic towards the hospital bed. He quickly placed Amy on it and a couple of other nurses surrounded the bed. Amy was then taken away for several scans and tests. Soon after Sonic dropped Amy at the hospital, the rest of the group arrived, they found Sonic in the waiting room, franticly passing back and forth_

"_How's Amy? Is she going to be okay?" Cream asked in a panicked manner_

"_I don't know, their still doing tests on her" Sonic replied bleakly_

"_What was wrong with her?" Tails asked_

"_I don't know, she never told me, no matter how hard I tried to hard to know, she just wouldn't say" Sonic answered as he looked solemnly to the ground._

"_Let's just hope that she makes it through this" Knuckles said as he too, stared at the ground. Painful hours ticked by and finally, Sonic was able to see Amy, the others stayed behind, it would be best if only one person went to see Amy first, and of course, Sonic would be that person. He made his way to the ward Amy was held in. The ward was eerily quiet, there was a couple of other people on other beds while some nurses kept an eye on all of them. At the end of the room, next to the window, was Amy, she was lying on her bed, with two fluids pumping into her body and an cannula going through her nose. She was awake, and noticed Sonic's presence, but didn't look in his direction_

"_How are you?" Sonic asked, trying to break the eerie silence between them, Amy still didn't look at him, she just stared out of the window, watching the raindrops flow down it._

"_The bleeding has stopped..." Amy muttered, just enough for Sonic to hear_

"_I can see" Sonic stated "Are you... are you in pain?"_

_Amy sighed, as if that question was either too stupid to answer, or that there were so many possible answers that she simply could only respond with a sigh._

"_Of course I'm in pain" Amy said finally "I hurt all over, mentally and physically"_

"_What is wrong with you?" Sonic asked, his voice showing utter concern, this time Amy looked over in his direction, her eyes were brimmed tears, she then looked down at her hands as she fiddles with them_

"_Cancer..." she muttered, this time Sonic didn't quite hear_

"_What?" he questioned_

"_I have cancer, it's quite rare, especially for hedgehogs, and of course, I had to get it" Amy said, her voice breaking as she started to shed tears_

"_Hey now..." Sonic said as he ran towards her, embracing her in his arms "It's not the end of the world, it can be treated right?"_

_Amy looked at him, eyes still brimmed with tears_

"_I don't know, I just don't know anymore, I hope so, I truly hope so"_

"_I think we all hope so" Sonic added._

_Another silence shrouded the two, finally Sonic breaks this silence by asking._

"_Amy, why didn't you tell me?" Amy looks up at Sonic, then out into the distance._

"_I thought that if you knew, then you'd think I was weak, for once, I wanted to fight something on my own" she answered solemnly._

"_You really can be stupid sometimes, you know that?" Sonic said with a slight smile  
"How so?!" Amy snapped back._

"_You really think that me, or any of the others would think you were weak because of something that wasn't your fault?" Sonic answered, a full grin on his face, showing that he was right._

"_You... you won't?" Amy asked, doubting him and herself._

"_Of course not, we're going to help you and support you, and then together, you'll defeat it" Sonic said, utterly reassuringly._

_All Amy could do was smile, her eyes brimmed with tears, but this time with tears of joy, all her assumptions were wrong, they didn't down-grade her, he still cared, as always. Before she could stop herself, Amy wrapped both arms around him and embraced him dearly._

"_I'm so so sorry!" she cried as she wept into his neck "I'm sorry I didn't tell you"_

"_Hey, it's alright" Sonic said gently "I understand, it'll be okay, it always will be"_

_A few more hours droned by, the others came by and Amy explained her situation, all of them just as supportive as Sonic. Soon, it was just Amy and Sonic left, the hours of the early morning swiftly came by, throughout the whole time, Sonic watched over Amy as she slept, making sure she was okay._

_Finally, morning came about and Amy was wide awake, she still couldn't leave the hospital as the doctors had to check over the final results of her tests._

"_I'm sure they'll be fine, you'll be fine" Sonic said as he saw Amy getting more and more impatient, Amy looked up, she could only reply with a smile, she was too nervous to speak, even though she had had these tests in the past, each time, something completely new or dangerous could come up._

_Finally, the doctor arrived with the results, he came in with a serious look upon him, immediately, Amy knew that this didn't bring good news._

"_Well Miss Rose, the results have come back, a few more experts and I examined for most of the night, trying to figure out the right course of action from now" he said, his tone sounding concerning and bound._

"_What do you mean?" Amy asked, her fear and curiosity clearly showing through her voice_

"_Well, you see, the tests and scans has shown that your lungs have been severely effected by the cancer, now the thing is, most of the cancer is in the lungs, so it would only take a lung transplant for most of the cancer to be gone, followed by a couple more therapies, it should be gone completely, but, we have no lungs on offer, not to mention the operation would be dangerous, it could take months for a pair to come along, and in that time, we don't know how your cancer will develop" the doctor continued "So we believe that the best course for would be for you do have an cannula" Amy's eyes widened in shock, she couldn't believe this, this is not what she wanted, what a way to down-grade her even more so!_

"_Isn't there any other option?!" Amy asked, her voice raising as she almost begged for another option._

"_I'm afraid not" the doctor replied, this time with a sincere and caring tone "I'm sorry"_

* * *

After that incident, I had to have an oxygen tank with me, all the time, 24/7. It wasn't the best feeling in the world at first, having something going through your nose, but I got used to it after a while. And then I started thinking, this isn't the end of the world, not for me anyway. I was still living, still able to walk, to talk, I wasn't on a life support machine, well almost.

As a result, I wanted to live, go on as if I wasn't ill. I wanted to fight, I wanted to run, to the free. I could, I'm sure I could do it. But that was a different in the eyes of others. You see, ever since Sonic, and the others, found out about my cancer, they became protective, especially Sonic. It was understandable at first, it still is, but I don't like it. Instead of helping me, it just made me feel weaker than ever.

* * *

_"I want to fight, I can fight, I know I can, why can't you understand that?!" _

_"It's far too dangerous, you could die, even if you didn't have the.. the... you know"_

_"Go on, say it!"_

_"Cancer!"_

_"I knew it, ever since you knew, you treated me differently, I'm no different, I haven't changed, I'm not diseased! -"  
"I KNOW THAT!"_

_"Then why are you treating me this way?!"_

_"I... I..."_

_"Thought so"_

* * *

The more they treated me differently, the more I started to feel weird, like I was trapped in my own skin. I hated it, I hated them! They didn't understand, how could they!? They want me to stay alive, they want me to carry on breathing.

But that's not what I want, I want don't want to survive, I want to live, I want to carry living like I have lived. I want to stretch and breath the sky. I want to be free once more.

Finally, after about 3 months of imprisonment within myself, I snapped.

The others were out fighting Eggman, and as usual, I wasn't invited. I waited for them to be long gone, in the midst of a battle, and my anger unfolded. I took my hammer, having just enough strength to hold it upright, and made my way to 3 places.

Number one, the freedom fighter's base. I opened the unlocked door and proceeded walk inside. There I smashed everything, well everything to do with me. Every picture, every news article, every memory. All destroyed. The anger against them, against me, filling my veins.

But I wasn't done.

Number two, Tails workshop. I did the same, every picture that had me in it, every ounce of happiness destroyed, every gift I had made, given, every piece of my heart gone, abolished, like it had never existed.

Finally, number three, my house. There I did the same thing as I did with the previous two, but with something else added to the mix, I destroyed my aid, my medicine, everything that I was given in order to carry on breathing. All except my cannula, which I still had going through my nose.

After all that, I was exhausted, I wasn't as strong as I was before. So I just lay there, in and among the damage I caused, just laying there, waiting for the storm that was bound to come.

And soon enough it did. After about 30 minutes of me laying there in solitude, the deafening sound of the door being slammed open arose, about 3 pairs of feet, maybe 4, ran up the stairs, into my room.

"You monster" I heard Sonic say with disgust "Do you want us to forget you, for you to have never existed, for you to... to"

"GO ON, SAY IT!" I challenged, getting up from the floor and looking at his face in fury. Just behind him, I saw Knuckles, Tails and Sally, Knuckles shared Sonic's anger, whereas Tails looked distraught, and Sally as a little bit of both

"TO DIE!" Sonic screamed back, his fury almost matching mine.

"WELL HERE'S SOME NEWS FOR YA, I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN LIVE THE LIFE I'M LIVING NOW!" I screamed, my emotions almost spilling out onto the floor. Then, the unexpected happened, and not the good kind. Before I could register it, I felt a hand slap my face hard, so hard I nearly fell over.

"Sonic!" I heard Sally cry with anger. I looked up, only to see Sonic looking at me with anger, fury and fear.

"I can't live like this" I mutter "I just can't, not like this, you have no idea what it's like"

Just as Sally was about to intervene, probably saying that she does, I quickly stopped her

"No, you don't, you have the faintest idea, to be brought down to this, to feel yourself getting weaker and weaker, to find yourself not being able to do simple things anymore without it hurting, or fearing that it'll hurt, and all because of something so small, living inside your own body, and knowing that there is no cure, only treatment, painful and sicking treatment, only for that shard of hope that says, yes I could defeat it, but maybe I can't. Living your life on the edge of a knife, that's me, everyday, every hour, all the time"

A silence swept through them, none of them looked at each other, or at me, either out in the distance or down at the floor.

"And you force me to live that" I add "You force me to live through this, when I could be free, just once more"

None of them said anything, instead, they left, leaving me alone once more.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my phone receiving a message, grudgingly, I got up and read it.

**Come to the FF base asap – S**

It didn't take a genius to know it was from Sonic, I looked at the message and pondered, should I? Shouldn't I? Were they angry? Damn it, of course they were! But why ask me this early, it's 5 AM damn it! Should I? Shouldn't I?

Yes, I should, I owe them that.

I walked through the streets in the early hours of the morning, pulling my cannula along with me, finally I made it to the base, the door was unlocked and there was light inside, I opened the door and went inside. There I found Tails, Knuckles, Cream, Sally, Rouge and Sonic around the room. As soon as they saw me, they smiled, to my surprise, and Sonic walked up to me.

"Sorry for the early wake up call, but I thought this was important" he said with a warm smile, his old self shining through his teeth.

"What's important?" I asked with confusion.

"What do you want to do Amy?" Sally asked with a gleaming smile

"What?" I asked again, utterly baffled by the current situation

"Throughout your life, what's the one, or few things, you wanted to but never haven't done yet?" Rouge said, emphasizing what Sally had previously said

"You said last night, you want to be free again, just once, well knows your chance, because we're going to help ya" Sonic said with a smile and his trademark thumbs up. I couldn't help but smile, this was such a turn around, and it was brilliant.

"This is just.. I don't know" I stuttered, I seemed like a complete idiot

"Well, what do you want to do?" Sonic asked again

"That's the thing, I just don't know!" I almost cried, I had been so caught up with trying to defeat my cancer, trying to keep it away from others, and my ongoing anger, that I never spent any time in thinking for myself, what did I want to do, something for me!

"There has to be something!" Rouge emphasized, I thought for a minute, there must be something, I know there was.

"What if some of them were illegal?" I asked quietly

"How illegal?" Sonic asked, his eyes showing curiosity and sternness

"Theft and others" I answered

"Well theft is my speciality" Rouge replied with a proud smile "What were you planning to steal?"  
"Anything!" I said, my face gleaming with joy "Just anything"

"What else?" Knuckles asked

"I have some ideas" I answered coyly

That day, we stole, laughed, got in trouble more than once and just had a good time. No, an amazing time. For once I was free.

I stole some food and money

Egged a strangers car and house

Let Sonic ran faster than the speed of sound with me in his arms, I always wanted to experience it.

And even shot from Shadow's own machine gun.

I know it wasn't much, but I didn't want to do anything big and spectacular, just small, little things that would mean a lot.

Later on that evening, we came across a beach, it was completely isolated, none around, just us. The sun was setting so perfectly on the horizon, it was just so picturesque. Then one final idea come to mind.

"I want you to swim Sonic" I said with a smile looking over at him

"What!?" he cried, his eyes clearly showing his fear

"You heard me, I want you to swim, I'll teach you" I replied, my smile getting bigger

"But this is your day, your list, not mine" Sonic protested

"Exactly, therefore, I want you to swim" I said again

"But, but..."

"Come on Sonic, don't be a spoil sport, it's Amy's day after all" Knuckles tormented, really trying to push his buttons

"Can it Knuckle-head" Sonic hissed

"Come on" I said as I took his hand and lead him into the sea.

"Wait, what about, you know" Sonic said as he pointed to my cannula.

"Oh, right" I said, I let go of his hand and took off my cannula.

"Are you sure you should do that?" Sonic asked with concern.

"As long as I don't keep it off for too long" I reassured him, I then took of my clothes until I was just in my underwear, I'm a bit too young for skinny dipping. Sonic followed my lead and took of his shoes and socks.

"Come on then!" I said with joy and excitement as I lead Sonic into the cold water of the sea.

"Oh s**t this is cold!" Sonic cursed as his gripped tightened on my hand, I could have sworn that I blushed.

"You'll get used to it" I said with a smile "Now, lay on your front and kick your legs so that you're able to move" Sonic followed my instructions and slowly lay on his front, allowing the water to keep him a float, I swam away from him slightly and stretched out my arms, allowing him to swim into them. His swimming was messy and splashy but he was swimming all the same.

"Hey, I'm swimming, I'm swimming!" he shouted out with joy

"I know, you're doing great!" I replied, my voice showing fits of laughter

"Your turn Knuckie!" I heard Rouge say as she dragged him in the water, her usual outfit suddenly now a bikini.

"Wait, what!?" Knuckles cried as he got himself dragged into the water. Tails, Cream and Sally looked on at the situation with laughter

"Oh don't you laugh Tails, you're next!" Knuckles screamed as an over-enthusiastic Rouge encouraged him to swim.

Soon, Tails and Cream joined our little swimming club and a small water fight took place.

The scene was priceless to say the least, after about 40 minutes of swimming and laughter, it was time for me to get out and put my clothes and cannula back on. Once we all got back out, we noticed that Sally was nowhere to be found. Just before suspicions started to arise, she came back, holding some blankets and 3 boxes of pizza.

"Sally, you rock!" Tails cried with joy as he took a box of pizza and sitting down on the soft sand.

"Thanks Tails" she replied, her smile gleaming through her teeth. In no time at all, we all sat down eating warm cheese pizza while wrapped in blankets trying to dry off. As conversation died down and the pizzas disappeared, the sun set over the horizon, leaving us in the darkness of the night, the stars acting as our light.

"It's beautiful" I whispered

"It is" Sonic agreed

The night really couldn't be any more perfect, it was my day, and I loved it!

But I spoke too soon, far too soon. Suddenly, I felt a terrible pain in my chest, unlike any pain I had felt before, like something was spreading all the way through my body.

"AHHH" I cried out in pain as I clutched my chest, I started coughing violently and the pain grew and grew.

"AMY!" Sonic cried as came to me side, holding me tightly "What is it?!"

"Hospital, take me... to... hospital" I chocked out "Lungs... killing... me"

Sonic just nodded and took me up in his arms, running as fast as he could to the hospital.

I felt myself losing consciousness, the world around me fading fast. Before I knew it, I was from Sonic's arms and onto a hospital bed, rushed over to recess, where at least 6 nurses and doctors surrounded me, including my doctor who helped me throughout my cancer treatment. It only took a glance at his face to knew my fate.

It was time, my time was up.

I managed to look across the room, outside, lingering at the door, was Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge, plus Tails, Cream and Sally in the distance. Their faces showed the face of fear, anguish and worry, hoping that I would make it, but knowing I won't.

It was then I realized why I kept my distance from them when the cancer first hit. I wasn't trying to defeat it myself, no, I was a grenade from the moment I caught it.

I was a grenade and I was trying to limit the causalities when I blew off.

The world around me became a blur, my light was burning out, I felt it. I was leaving, and I didn't even get to say goodbye, it was painful, so painful. I could feel some tears flow down my cheeks.

Then, a miracle came.

"Lungs, we have lungs" one of the nurses said

"Quick, to theatre" my doctor exclaimed, and I was wheeled out from recess and out into a corridor, to a lift.

"What's happening?!" I heard Sonic cry

"We have a pair of lungs but we need to be quick, we don't know how much she has left" the doctor said. I then felt something grab my hand and held it tightly.

"I love you, you know that? I love you so much" I heard someone whisper in my ear, their breath tickling my neck and ear, that voice I couldn't mistake, ever.

It was Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog.

"Please make it, just please carry on living, for me" he said again, his voice making his tears audible. I wanted to reply, I truly did, but his hand let go, and my vision blanked out, plunging me into darkness.

* * *

I don't how long I was in that darkness, it felt like an eternity. Was I dead? Was I alive? Oh I don't even know anymore.

I couldn't have lost, I couldn't have, to have gone without saying good-bye would be devastating. I just couldn't have lost, I would not let cancer win!

Then, in my eternal darkness, I saw a light, shining bigger and brighter, I reached up to it, trying to grab, getting me out of this eerie darkness.

_Take me home, bring me back to my friends, my family, my love_

The light surrounded me and my vision came back.

I slowly woke up to a white ceiling above me, and a soft cushion below me. As my vision became better, I saw that I was on a hospital bed, two tubes pierced into my flesh and no cannula. There was some padding and bandage on my chest. The light shone through the window, the wind tickling my throat, It felt good to breath again.

Then I saw a sight that made me smile ten time larger, I sight which I longed to see. Sonic, by my side, holding my hand. As soon as he saw I was awake, he lit up, a bright smile on his face.

We didn't say anything, well except for three words, two words that would make me happy for ever more.

"You won Ames"

* * *

_**Cancer is a horrible, deadly illness, with one in three likely to get it. But with research, treatment and more importantly support, we can beat it, and hopefully, obliterate it. Forever.**_


End file.
